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3 Lessons Learned From My First Year of Freelancing

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Freelancing Lessons

In October of 2009, I was hired for my first freelancing gig. I was in my Senior year of college at the time, and as I had (I remember the amount exactly…)  $8 left to my name, I agreed to do what turned out to be a weeks worth of work for $250. At the time, I was stoked that I would be able to give myself another few weeks of runway, and, as a treat to myself, eat something besides ramen noodles. That may have been the most stressful week of that entire semester, but the feeling of having someone seek me out and hire me for a project for the first time was enough to fuel the 20-hour days I put in to make it all work.

The lessons I learned that week are still some of the most important to me, even a year and a half on. After spending the time between then and now working full time as a web-development consultant and maker of thesis skins, with dedicated office space (a sure upgrade from the tiny desk in my dorm!) and two new members on the ThesisReady team, I still keep what I learned then close to my heart. Here are the three most important things I learned about freelancing that week.

1. Not Sleeping Doesn’t Make You Cool

Between preparing for finals that were only a few weeks away, 6 classes, weekly club meetings, and my very first freelance gig, I was on the move every second of that week. Looking back, I think I averaged something like 2 hours of sleep a night. While I’m not a huge sleeper usually, a 66% reduction in sleep is not good for your body. In an effort to feel like superman, I worked long into the night every single night and it wasn’t long before it took a toll on me.

Instead of trying to take on huge work loads head on, it pays to plan.

The first step of any project I take on now is an exact schedule that I dump into my Google Calendar. This serves three benefits. The first – I know how long things will take and can balance more projects since I have easy access to a visual representation of how much I’m trying to do. Secondly, assigning exact limits on time for every element of a project ensures I don’t let tasks that should be minor things eat through my time. A project will fill up as much time as you allow it to, and setting limits right from the start will save you. Third, I know if I’m about to fall behind which leads me to…

2. There’s No Such Thing as Over Communication

Seriously. Seriously, seriously, seriously. Every client wants to feel like they are the center of your universe. Even if you’ve somehow overbooked your schedule to the extreme, taking a few minutes each day to let your client know what’s going on will be the best time you spend. It’s hard to demonstrate how quickly things can go pear-shaped when someone feels like you’re ripping them off.

I was hired on a project to rebuild an existing website not too long after I finished up with the first client. I did a less than stellar job communicating that time around, and I paid for it. It was the first time I had to issue a refund, and it crushed me. I spent the rest of the week miserable, and more than a few times, considered giving up and shutting down my website. Even though the actual website was turning out great, the client wasn’t happy, and it was because I wasn’t spending enough time to make them feel like they were the most important person in the world.

On the other hand, I’ve had projects that absolutely eclipsed the one I lost, and the clients couldn’t wait to hire me for even more work. The difference? Taking time to educate and ease concern.

3. You’re Much More Valuable Than You Think

So, even though I hadn’t become the World’s Most Brilliant Web Developer overnight, my happy clients were telling their friends that I was the person to work with on their new projects. By working hard and taking on projects that I thought were a lot of fun, word of mouth spread like wild-fire, and I suddenly had more projects than I could handle. The problem, h owever, wasn’t that I was working full time, but I still wasn’t making the kind of money I wanted. Granted, only a few months prior, I was literally broke (I recall one point in particular when I opened my wallet and saw only spiderwebs.)

I knew something had to change, and soon. That same day I had that realization, I did what (still to this day) was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I emailed every single one of my clients and let them know that starting the next month, I was doubling my hourly rate. Thinking back, I knew that email would result in one of only two outcomes.

  1. I lose every single one of my clients and get a flood of hate mail for being so greedy, or,
  2. I still lose every single one of my clients, but they are at least sort of polite about it.

Boy, was I wrong.

9 out of 10 clients responded along the lines of “Yeah. You should have always been charging me more. Here’s the next project I want to do.” I did lose a couple of people, but every single one of them made it a point to send out a recommendation email for me.

Wow. All that stressing for nothing, and now I was able to dedicate even more time to my clients and make them even happier. That’s a win win if there ever were such a thing.

So those are my top three freelancing lessons. What do you think? Agree or disagree?

About

Adam is the founder and lead developer at ThesisReady.com which makes skins for the Popular Thesis framework. He also publishes weekly video tutorials related to all things marketing and WordPress.

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{ 27 Responses }

  1. Robert says:
    I'm ow freelancing for a bit over a year and I'd say one of the most important things is to communicate with your client. Let him know exactly what's going on, how the project is going... and every now and then also take some time for a more personal conversation - this allowed to get some great new clients.
  2. Alexandria Alquisira says:
    I totally agree most of the lessons that you have shared and I truly believe it. When you are working online you cannot sleep the required time and it probably cause your health. Great advice and thanks for the post!
  3. James Johnston says:
    Thanks for sharing your results. I have been freelancing for little over a year now. I like freelancing but at times it can be more than I want to deal with. Although I am not doing as much as I use to, I still do it part time and have several returning clients. I agree with you on your points. Number 3 was the biggest for me to get sorted out. When I first started out, I lost bids because I would under bid on a project. I thought I would get the contract by have a cheaper rate, but I found that in most cases, I wouldn't get the contract. I realized after taking some buisness courses, that if you undersell yourself, people with think you are only as good as you charge. Not because you offer a better rate to get the client. So at that point I raised my rates to what the average freelancer in my area was charging. Then I could negotiate the final price, if the client wanted a discount. After setting my prices, that is when I started getting return clients and taking on more work. As for over communication. I agree to a point, I have several clients, that didn't want to be contacted until a certain point in the project or ones that I would give weekly updates and those calls should only take a few minutes turned in a twenty minute call about nothing related to the project. So I decided, to only communicate once a week or at each step of the project and schedule time in the work day. Of course , if a clients wants more communication, then that is something that I would do if needed.
  4. Gina Jennings says:
    Thanks for sharing this. I totally agree with you on the communication part. I just finished a set of orders with my first client. I sent her an email stating I would raise my prices, but unfortunately, she could not afford it for her business and still make profit which is understandable. However, she understood that I needed to do what I needed to do. People with good online business experience will understand this. New businesses and the super greedy don't understand it at all, but they will eventually learn or weed themselves out. It's good that you never gave up. At the same token, it might help to also engage in creating passive income that can fill in the gaps between jobs.
  5. Val says:
    I did something similar in my college years. You're right on all 3 items. Regarding communication, I'd like to recite the popular mantra: "Release early, release often." Find a way to demonstrate your results and get customer feedback as frequently as possible. That will protect you from some very expensive misunderstandings and broken deadlines. As for #3 - it's really simple. Once your preferred working hours are fully scheduled at your current rate, it's time to raise it.
  6. Cindy Bidar says:
    Boy can I relate to working loooooong hours for very little pay - and to being glad to get it! While I was never in the "spiderwebs in the wallet" category, I did need to raise some funds to support my Internet marketing habit, and those first freelance jobs were perfect for that. If I had it to do over again, I would heed the advice of those who had gone before, and not be afraid to set reasonable rates from the start. As you say, you are much more valuable than you think you are! Great advice. Thanks!
  7. Wasim Ismail says:
    Like this article :) Communication is the key, your customers feel special, when you keep in touch with them, and I have noticed that in my business, communication solve many of the problems, and makes the project much clear, even if it’s a quick silly question, its better to ask rather then not asking at all. When you freelance, you have to make sure you earn a living, or else just like you said you could be working a full day, and still not earn a dime. Make sure you charge your clients just rights so that they get good value for money, and your not breaking your back doing the job.
  8. Dennis Edell says:
    #1 is my favorite. Some people really need to stop preaching on how you're not serious if you sleep more then one hour per week.....just full of it they are.
    • Jack Harold says:
      @ Dennis, I like #1 as well. The same exact experience when I just started out. Sleepless nights got my next few days stressed, frustrated with no energy and BAD BREATH... haha and my gf was complaining that I do not have time with her and ... even if I do, I will be dozing off in her arms. Please please..if you want to earn big bucks, do take care of your body as well!
  9. Mani Viswanathan says:
    Felt nice to read through your experience. The third point is a noteworthy one :)
  10. bryan says:
    Adam, Very solid advice there! Love it when you can add your own personal experiences. I think it adds even more value to a post when you have a personal experience weaved into it. I totally agree that it is not easy to get offers and you really have to work your butt off sometimes to make anything, and it's not like clients will come in hordes to hire you. I think the other thing that you've done here is also being proactive. Emailing people and telling them that you're doubling your rate is an example of doing something
  11. TJ McDowell says:
    Adam, I'm right there with you on the point you made on over-communication. People expect to be kept in the loop (if you were a paying customer, wouldn't you expect that too?). Even when you're running behind, a short email explaining that you're behind, and when you'll be able to complete the project goes a long way. It's that whole client relationship topic that bloggers always seem to come back to. There can be no good relationship without communication.
  12. Alex says:
    So right, when taking a job from a client its adamant that you communicate with them for every single step you complete. They want to see the results even if they're small, mainly because they can't see you and may think you are slacking off (they dont really care or know that you have lots of other clients). I too have the tendency to sub-price undervalue myself, mainly because you don't really know how hard your work is (especially if you are doing it from passion).
  13. Morgan says:
    Hi Adam! Great lessons! I especially love #2. We've all been on the client side of things and it can get frustrating when there's absolutely no communication. Great piece!
  14. John says:
    Hey Adam, number 3 is critical, and the hardest one to come to grips with sometimes. You don't want to anger the client, and possibly have them walk, but you have to be realistic about what your time is worth. To me time is so valuable, and if I'm not going to get what I think it's worth, then someone else can do it. I've just recently had a situation where I gave my rate, the prospective client balked, but then came back because they knew the kind of work I can do for them. If you're delivering, then you can charge for it, because you know you're worth it. Great post, man thanks!
  15. Vijayraj Reddy says:
    regular sleep is necessary for bloggers as their mind has more work to do daily..
  16. tushar says:
    i have recently started free lancing and your point#3 has forced me to revise my rates. I always fear that high rates will disappoint the clients forehand fully aware of the fact that at low rates, i am not doing justice to my talent. will look to increase my rates once i build a reputation
  17. Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter says:
    I am glad you are still doing what you are doing. Otherwise it becomes very hard to handle people and satisfy all their wishes. there are three thing to do for these jobs. 1. Charge them the highest price 2. Make them sign a contract with a no refund policy 3. Never work without getting paid in advance. However, keep on working in the right directions, Keep on making money and always learn more and more writing skills with experience. Fran A
  18. Leo says:
    I can particularly relate to point 3. You - ideally - want to lose the people who stay with you only because you are the cheapest. At some point down the line they will pressure you to lower your prices even more: their nephew/son-in-law/neighbours' dog has a blog and can do the same ecommerce website you just spent months custom theming / coding. Incidentally they are usually also the people who value your work the least and ask of you the more. Off course there are some who simply cannot afford the new price, but hose who can, moan, and leave anyway... good riddance!
  19. Murlu says:
    Oh man, #2 was such a huge thing just recently with a web design relaunch. We literally took 2 weeks to visually break down what we wanted the website to be to the finest detail like the font sizes, colors, image name structure, order, nav and more - I mean, this was crazy. Buuuut, in the long run, we were able to pass off our project to the devs which immediately understood what we were talking about vs. just shooting over a PSD and said "here, run with it". It's great to be organized on freelance projects, saves a TON of headaches.
  20. Delena Silverfox says:
    I've had the same experience recently. Not with having too much work, but with opening my wallet and finding only spider webs (actually, it was pesos, but worth about the same). I've been told I'm short-changing myself with my small rates and slow going on Elance, but when you're just starting out it's better to build a client base on trust rather than trying to build the bank account. I'll check out your freelance links. Thanks! Delena
    • Murlu says:
      Definitely! Don't ever undersell yourself because they're coming to you, ya know? You have to make sure you're working with clients YOU want to work with. As for Elance, as much heat that it gets for freelancing, you're exactly right - sometimes it's way better to get those clients on board than to only worry about what you're putting into the bank.
  21. Maria Pavel says:
    Hi Adam, As a online entrepreneur, I can confirm and say the same things you said. They are all true, been there, seen that. I still struggle to sleep at least 6-7 hours a night. I am over-tired, I need to get some real rest, a full day, 15 hours of just sleeping, I just imagine, it would be great to sleep 15h/day, at least for one day and it still woulve be great ! :D Bye!
  22. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Adam, Customer care and an open dialogue is the best way to get top clients and a good relationship with. Those clients who always want it cheap and complain, forget them, they take to much time for you and generate no money in the end.
  23. redkathy says:
    A Guts to glory lesson for sure! Increasing your prices was a good decision and obviously was done at the proper time. We started with lower than average pricing to build a contractor base and increased from there as demand allowed. We lost a few but kept most. After 20 + years we are still working for those companies who are still around after the housing crash. Being good at what you do and proving that is huge. Customers know what they are getting is good and correct. They see that as a savings and worth the increase. Communication is vital to every business. I can't tell you how many times I was the bearer of bad news for our small construction company. While it is true we can't please everyone, I can say for sure due to my constant and honest communication many jobs were SAVED! Nice post, great advice!